Depardon's Modern Life

Raymond Depardon, who made the excellent "Tenth District Court: Moments of Trial", has a film screening at the French Film Festival this March in Sydney. The film, "Modern Life", is part of a triptych, though the ending suggests that he will be back for another film. Depardon's film profiles peasants in what I think is the region of Occitan over a year (there are bits here and there which indicate that he has been following the families for awhile, though perhaps not with a precise time lag like the Seven Up! series). Occitan appears to be a hilly province - it is a difficult land and as one of the subjects says it requires passion to work it. Most of the peasants are in fact herdsmen or keep livestock. Most are also old and the few young people who appear struggle in different degrees to make a living off the land. The families vary, from uncles and a newly married nephew to families with sons to a young couple trying to acquire land and rear goats. Depardon observes and sometimes prods his reticent subjects, the film doesn't have any particular agenda except perhaps to record Depardon's love of the land and the peasants and the inevitable disappearance of a way of life. Depardon uses a number of "pillow shots" between his visits, usually following a road while seasons change. These shots are very effective in establishing the landscape. While Depardon states that he likes the autumn landscape, I liked the winter scenes (very evocative of Frost's Snowy Evening poem). Dogs also make their appearance at each stop - including one who only understands the Occitan language and one who proceeds to bite the farmer being interviewed. Like all French documentaries set in the countryside, there is something soothing and gentle in the film even as it records conflicts and failures. And also something universal, witness the sweetness of a 70 year old Germaine urging one more biscuit on the documentary makers or the 80+ year old Raymond (not the director) paying a tribute to his parents who "did more with less".

Clip of the film here.

The theatre was surprisingly crowded today, this was not a film I would have thought would be so popular. Partly, it maybe because this evening is the Mardi Gras. People were already taking their street-side seats when I left and Hyde Park was full of people in costume. Most of Japan also seemed to have descended to record the event, they seemed particularly excited to get themselves photographed with a dog collared group.